Coil pack manufactures

[Pooltee]

I am going to be changing my coil packs on the car very soon as I have read lots of posts about these along with spark plugs ideally being changed around the 30k Miles mark for tuned engines.

From your experience, is there a brand of coil that is favoured more than others? I believe they are Delphi on there at the moment.

Cheers

Paul

 

[mcbutler]

Delphi or Bosch are both more than good enough Paul, do your plugs at the same time if you have not done them recently..

 

[Pooltee]

Delphi or Bosch are both more than good enough Paul, do your plugs at the same time if you have not done them recently..

Thanks for the reply mate. I did the plugs a few weeks back, but again I may have read too much into it, but should I have opted for a colder plug?

I have noticed the idle isn’t as smooth as it was, and also there is a very slight hesitation through the Rev range under gentle acceleration. If going full throttle it isn’t there. Just wondering if there is a bit of pre ignition going on?

 

[mcbutler]

If your motor is standard then the standard plug is correct, if you go to a stage 1 map and drive it like you nicked it then one step colder would not hurt. If your plugs are new then its unlikely they are the cause of a rough idle.
How were the old plugs, black and sooty/brown/white when you removed them?
How many miles on your car?

 

[Pooltee]

The old plugs were very clean and appeared to be the originals as they had the BMW marking on them. There is no mention of a plug change in the service history.

The car has just rolled over 58k so I would have thought they were well due a change.

Is there a part number known for the colder plugs? I have always preferred NGK plugs, but this time I went for Bosch as they were all that were all that was available at the time of ordering.

 

[mcbutler]

Bosch plugs are absolutely fine and often about half the price of NGK. I have a 35i and get all my tuning info from a place called N54 tuning, thats all they do. You may have to search for tuning companies for your engine regarding advice on plug temps or email Bosch/NGK.
On the point of colder plugs though, if you consider your motor is misbehaving when its under almost no stress i.e. gentle revving but running fine under full throttle your plugs are probably ok. You say your car is tuned, can you elaborate ECU map/decat etc etc??

 

[Pooltee]

Bosch plugs are absolutely fine and often about half the price of NGK. I have a 35i and get all my tuning info from a place called N54 tuning, thats all they do. You may have to search for tuning companies for your engine regarding advice on plug temps or email Bosch/NGK.
On the point of colder plugs though, if you consider your motor is misbehaving when its under almost no stress i.e. gentle revving but running fine under full throttle your plugs are probably ok. You say your car is tuned, can you elaborate ECU map/decat etc etc??

Sorry, that would of helped a lot wouldn’t it

It has had a stage 1 remap by quantum tuning. When it was on the rolling road it produced 276bhp, so it’s not silly power, but quite an increase on factory. Other than that, the only other mods are a K&N Panel filter, and the golf tee mod on the exhaust.

No fault codes or pending codes in the ECU, only codes relating to the broken roof

 

[Anonymous]

On N20 engines 30k miles is the max anecdotally suggested for re-mapped engines and 50k ish miles for coils..

Having said that I swapped them out at 40k miles having run a Celtic re-map for 10k miles with no obvious issues and no obvious improvements with new plugs and new coils...but I do feel virtuous..

Unlike the N54 the N20 engines don't heat soak their coils as much due to better head design..

There is no recomendations anywhere AFAIK to run colder plugs with these states of tunes..

On board sensors are designed to pick up pinking and knocking and retard the ignition/reduce power if required so pre-ignition in the old fashioned concept should not happen..

 

[Pooltee]

On N20 engines 30k miles is the max anecdotally suggested for re-mapped engines and 50k ish miles for coils..

Thanks for the advise, it’s good to know.

The only other thought that has crossed my mind with regards to slight rough idle and light hesitation is oil coating of the MAF from the K&N filter. Don’t get me wrong, the issue is by no means bad, but just noticeable and the running does not seem quite as smooth as when I brought her.

If I switch the AC off the issue is worse, and the idle drops lower to the point the engine almost feels unbalanced and the roughness increases. Easy fix for that one is to leave the AC button alone

Having said that I swapped them out at 40k miles having run a Celtic re-map for 10k miles with no obvious issues and no obvious improvements with new plugs and new coils...but I do feel virtuous..

Unlike the N54 the N20 engines don't heat soak their coils as much due to better head design..

There is no recomendations anywhere AFAIK to run colder plugs with these states of tunes..

On board sensors are designed to pick up pinking and knocking and retard the ignition/reduce power if required so pre-ignition in the old fashioned concept should not happen..

 

[Pooltee]

On N20 engines 30k miles is the max anecdotally suggested for re-mapped engines and 50k ish miles for coils..

Thanks for the advise, it’s good to know.

The only other thought that has crossed my mind with regards to slight rough idle and light hesitation is oil coating of the MAF from the K&N filter. Don’t get me wrong, the issue is by no means bad, but just noticeable and the running does not seem quite as smooth as when I brought her.

If I switch the AC off the issue is worse, and the idle drops lower to the point the engine almost feels unbalanced and the roughness increases. Easy fix for that one is to leave the AC button alone

Having said that I swapped them out at 40k miles having run a Celtic re-map for 10k miles with no obvious issues and no obvious improvements with new plugs and new coils...but I do feel virtuous..

Unlike the N54 the N20 engines don't heat soak their coils as much due to better head design..

There is no recomendations anywhere AFAIK to run colder plugs with these states of tunes..

On board sensors are designed to pick up pinking and knocking and retard the ignition/reduce power if required so pre-ignition in the old fashioned concept should not happen..

 

[Pooltee]

Thanks for the advise, it’s good to know.

The only other thought that has crossed my mind with regards to slight rough idle and light hesitation is oil coating of the MAF from the K&N filter. Don’t get me wrong, the issue is by no means bad, but just noticeable and the running does not seem quite as smooth as when I brought her.

If I switch the AC off the issue is worse, and the idle drops lower to the point the engine almost feels unbalanced and the roughness increases. Easy fix for that one is to leave the AC button alone

 

[Anonymous]

IMHO..I don’t know why people bother these days in well designed cars with k+n oiled filters..they cause more trouble than they are worth...over oiled filters are not good for these types of engines..a decent stock oem filter is very good..the N20 is not inlet aspiration limited..

 

[mcbutler]

IMHO..I don’t know why people bother these days in well designed cars with k+n oiled filters..they cause more trouble than they are worth...over oiled filters are not good for these types of engines..a decent stock oem filter is very good..the N20 is not inlet aspiration limited..

You are spot on here, every tuner I have asked has told me all these underbonnet cones etc are a waste of time and money UNLESS they draw cold air from outside the engine bay. Oiling filters is so 1980, happy memories...... I had a huge 4 barrel Holly on my TR8 and a massive chromed pancake air filter about 14" in diameter.....

 

[Pooltee]

IMHO..I don’t know why people bother these days in well designed cars with k+n oiled filters..they cause more trouble than they are worth...over oiled filters are not good for these types of engines..a decent stock oem filter is very good..the N20 is not inlet aspiration limited..

You are spot on here, every tuner I have asked has told me all these underbonnet cones etc are a waste of time and money UNLESS they draw cold air from outside the engine bay. Oiling filters is so 1980, happy memories...... I had a huge 4 barrel Holly on my TR8 and a massive chromed pancake air filter about 14" in diameter.....

Mine isn’t running a cone filter, just a replacement panel filter , but I am tempted to go back to a standard OE filter to be honest.

 

[mcbutler]

IMHO..I don’t know why people bother these days in well designed cars with k+n oiled filters..they cause more trouble than they are worth...over oiled filters are not good for these types of engines..a decent stock oem filter is very good..the N20 is not inlet aspiration limited..

You are spot on here, every tuner I have asked has told me all these underbonnet cones etc are a waste of time and money UNLESS they draw cold air from outside the engine bay. Oiling filters is so 1980, happy memories...... I had a huge 4 barrel Holly on my TR8 and a massive chromed pancake air filter about 14" in diameter.....

Mine isn’t running a cone filter, just a replacement panel filter , but I am tempted to go back to a standard OE filter to be honest.

Good idea